


non mortem

by sparkycap



Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Sass, Fluff without Plot, It's about the tenderness, M/M, Sleepiness, Spoilers, and a super mild existential crisis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:14:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28423785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparkycap/pseuds/sparkycap
Summary: Zagreus finds that losing a pressing purpose does not necessarily kill the drive to get out get out get out, but you know what's really good at killing things? Death Incarnate.a.k.a Zag wants to rest but doesn't know how and everyone in the House roasts him for it until his boyfriend puts him to bed.
Relationships: Thanatos/Zagreus (Hades Video Game)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 349





	non mortem

**Author's Note:**

> More tired-but-restless Zag fic for this fandom because I need more. Though it did not turn out the way I meant it to, like, guys, this was supposed to be sexy and I don't know what happened, it's literally not at all. Maybe I'll do that version someday?
> 
> Spoilers for the post-credits ending but not for the epilogue because I haven't gotten there yet.

For a moment, Zagreus doesn’t want to get out of the pool. It’s not that he has anything to be ashamed of—he beat his father. Again. There’s no reason to feel defeated. His mother is still home, probably standing next to Cerberus at the end of the hall.

Which also means that there’s no reason to run right out the door again. Or the window, rather.

He could rest. Dying is exhausting work. He could just lie here.

Except he really, really can’t.

He gets out of the pool. He starts to shake the blood out of his hair like a one-headed dog—he usually tries to see if he can hit Hypnos all the way from here—but it makes him feel a little woozy. He stops. The petals falling around him are moving faster than he is. He pushes his hair back and trudges up the steps.

Blood and darkness, he’s so slow, Hypnos doesn’t even startle awake when he passes.

“Zagreus,” his mother says, the musical way she says his name still enough to make his heart lift even after hearing it all these times. “You’ve gone out too many times in a row. Tell me you’ll rest before the next one.”

“You should be proud,” his father grumbles, which makes Zagreus look up in surprise and foolish hope. “This is the most dedication your son has ever shown to his work.”

“Our son,” she says mildly, as Zagreus wrestles his expectations back under control.

“Truly, Father, since you’re the one who raised me, I’d think that particular failing is more your fault than hers.” He slips between them to place his hand on Cerberus’s more tactile head. A sigh escapes him without his notice, which makes even his father look up from his endless paperwork.

Hades glares at him with no real heat. “I did say to make your little escape attempts at your leisure.”

Leisure is a strange concept, but not as strange as this conversation. It’s almost as though his parents are… fussing over him. He feels overly warm, which is saying something, given the sparks that tend to emit from his body at any given time. “It’s not as if I’ve been overworking myself for your sake.”

“But you have been overworking yourself?” Persephone says shrewdly.

Zagreus huffs. Cerberus huffs back. He sneaks a kiss to the side of the dog’s friendly head and then dodges back before it can be reciprocated. His mother is still watching him knowingly. He shifts his weight from foot to foot. “It appears that, when spending a great deal of time doggedly pursuing a goal, finally accomplishing it… gets rid of the goal, but not the… doggedness. No offense, boy.”

“Oh, you’re like your father,” she says, which makes both Hades and Zagreus look at her in horror. “You don’t know how to take a break, even if you wanted to.”

“Death was a nice break,” Zagreus says. “Could’ve lasted longer.”

His mother laughs. It brings an automatic smile to his face, and his father even stops glaring, but she has a mischievous glint in her eye. “That does explain your choice of partner, doesn’t it?”

Zagreus tries to hang onto his smile, but it slips away. Much like death. Is that the true tragedy of his immortal life? Death comes for him, but never stays. If he’s honest, that’s part of what drives him out of the house again and again. He’s more likely to get a glimpse of Thanatos out there than he is here.

“Hmph. Tell that _partner_ of yours he’s due for a rest too. Can’t have him slipping him again,” Hades says. “My best servant, that one—”

“You’ve said,” Zagreus says dryly, neglecting to mention that any slipping on Than’s part is almost certainly his fault. “But tell him yourself. You’re likely to see him before I do.”

“I don’t know about that,” Persephone says. “I’m sure it’s you he’s waiting for over there.”

It takes a long moment for the words to sink in through the unfamiliar tired haze in his mind. When they do, he spins to look as if he could see through the wall. He can’t. He spins back. “Mother—I—”

“Go.”

He does, so fast he might have picked up some of Than’s ability to shift. Achilles nearly calls out to him before clearly thinking better of it with a glance toward the balcony. Zagreus is almost embarrassed by how fast his heart is tripping over itself, but it’s just been so long.

There was no indication that Thanatos would be in the house today or tonight, he’s not prepared. Not emotionally, or—he hates that he’s empty-handed, long free of ambrosia and having spent all his nectar on the last run, gaining favor with his Olympian relatives for some plan of his mother’s. He’s better with his words now that he and Than have figured everything out and aren’t wading through unfamiliar territory all the time, but he never wants to make him feel like he has to reciprocate when Zag gets sappy.

Which he’s told can be often. He doesn’t see it, and he didn’t believe it from Meg or even Patroclus, but when even Orpheus calls you a romantic, you have to accept defeat.

Besides, last time he’d complained to Achilles about Patroclus calling him sentimental, Achilles had spent the whole day or night adopting a poor, melodramatic imitation of Zag’s voice and saying _go to him_ every time they parted ways. You make _one_ encouraging remark about your mentor finally joining his lover in Elysium…

Hypnos has an ongoing list of how many couples Zagreus has reunited so far, but given that it’s really only three, he thinks they’re all being dramatic. Especially since he wasn’t even trying on the last one; he’d just wanted his mother back.

“You’re here,” he says finally.

Thanatos looks amused, but his eyes are soft. “Miss me, Zag?”

He just nods. Now that he’s closer, his heart is easing down to its normal rhythm, and he’s exhausted all over again. He shifts his weight, wanting out of the tired haze, wanting to be present for this. This. This is what he’s been needing. Not rest or anything ridiculous like that, just the weight of Than’s steady gaze.

Better than any of those weighted blankets Dusa swears by.

He can’t help himself. He reaches up to touch Than’s shoulder, which turns into an arm around his neck, and then Than is letting himself be pulled to the ground so that Zag can hug him properly, face buried in his neck. He makes a disgruntled noise that Zag knows is fake. “You still have Styx water in your hair.”

“Missed you,” Zagreus agrees belatedly, which makes him stop even pretending to be annoyed. Instead one of his hands sinks into Zag’s damp hair, the other gliding up and down his spine in a way that makes him wonder if Thanatos doesn’t have any of his brother’s sleep powers after all.

“I… you know I…” Thanatos gives up on returning the sentiment with words, instead taking Zag’s jaw in his cold hand and ducking to kiss him. It’s soft and slow, sort of like a good kind of poison that makes Zagreus sway and lose whatever small, tenuous grip on time he had down here.

Then it’s over, and he realizes his feet are a foot off the ground, because Thanatos has accidentally lifted them both in their distraction. He sets Zagreus down very carefully, as if that twelve-inch drop would do him great harm.

“Sorry,” he says, as if it’s not the cutest thing that’s ever happened in the underworld and possibly the mortal one. “Zag, you look dead on your feet. I should know.”

“Everyone keeps saying that. If I didn’t know how good I looked, I’d start worrying.”

“How do you know how good you look? That mirror in your bedroom doesn’t even show your reflection.”

Zagreus gives him his best charming smile. “Yeah, but I just got kissed by the handsomest god I know, and I’m pretty sure he has good taste.”

Thanatos frowns. “You really shouldn’t call me that, you know. Wars have been fought over similar claims.”

“It’s not a claim when it’s a fact.” Without much hope, Zagreus says, “If I’m so tired, why don’t you take me to bed?”

“Because I’d have to walk past your mother the queen to do so,” Thanatos says. “Why don’t you just meet me in there?”

Then he disappears in a familiar flash of green light, leaving Zagreus blinking at the spot where he used to be. From down the hall, Achilles calls, “Go to him, lad.”

“Oh, for the love of—” Zagreus stalks over to him. “You know what, sir? I seem to recall quite a lot of pining words on your part that you might not like repeated.”

Achilles looks as unruffled as ever. “You think so, do you?”

“You once told me that Patroclus makes you feel calm and _whole_ ,” Zagreus says. “What do you think Orpheus would make of that one, hm? I think it’s proper love ballad material.”

“Hm. Do you remember what you said after that?” He’s trying to hold back a smile, which doesn’t bode well for Zagreus.

“I… no.”

“I believe it was something along the lines of how restless you always are,” Achilles says, his voice perfectly even. “And how you can’t imagine something making you feel that way. Before you and your lad there worked things out, if I’m not mistaken. That wouldn’t still be the case, would it?”

Zagreus could say it is, but Achilles, being too good at his blasted job, just watched him nearly fall asleep in midair because his partner was rubbing his back, so he’s more or less caught in the lie before it even starts.

“You know,” he says, “I like you better in Elysium now.”

**Author's Note:**

> As you can see by this ending, basically this whole fic was inspired by that one bit of canon dialogue where Achilles was like yeah my boyfriend made me feel calm and Zag was like haha what must THAT be like and I was like you know what babe... you're gonna fucking find out.


End file.
